Three Body 1: Earth's Past

Chapter 14
When she first entered the Red Bank Base, Ye Wenjie was not assigned a regular job, but only did some technical chores under the supervision of a security officer.

As early as her sophomore year, Ye Wenjie was very familiar with her later graduate tutors.He told Ye Wenjie that to study astrophysics, if one does not understand experimental techniques and observation capabilities, no matter how good the theory is, it is useless, at least in China.This is quite different from her father's point of view, but Ye Wenjie tends to agree with this point of view, she always feels that her father is too theoretical.The tutor is one of the pioneers of radio astronomy in China. Under his influence, Ye Wenjie also developed a strong interest in radio astronomy, so she taught herself the major of electronic engineering and computer [4], which is the technology of experiment and observation of this subject. Base.During the two years of postgraduate study, she worked with her supervisor to debug the first small radio telescope in China, and accumulated a lot of experience in this field.Unexpectedly, her knowledge would come in handy at the Red Coast base.

Ye Wenjie initially worked in the launch department as an equipment maintenance and overhaul, and soon became an indispensable technical backbone of the launch department, which made her a little puzzled.She is the only person in the base who does not wear a military uniform, and because of her status, everyone keeps a distance from her, which makes her devote herself to work to relieve her loneliness.But this is not enough to explain the problem. After all, this is a key national defense project. Could it be that the technicians here are so mediocre, and must she be easily replaced by someone who has no engineering background and no work experience?

She soon discovered some reasons.Contrary to what you see on the surface, the base is staffed by the best technical officers of the Second Artillery Corps. She may not be able to catch up with these outstanding electronic and computer engineers after a lifetime of study.But the base is located in a remote place, the conditions are very poor, and the main research and development work of the Red Coast system has been completed, it is only operation and maintenance, and there is no chance to make technical achievements. In such a top-secret project, once one enters a technical core position, it is difficult to transfer away.So people deliberately lower their abilities a lot at work, but they can't lag behind in performance. So the leader directs to the east, and he tries his best to go west, deliberately pretending to be stupid, hoping that the leader will have such an idea: This person has also tried his best. But with such a little ability and level, it's useless to keep him, but it will get in the way.

Many people have indeed successfully transferred away in this way.Under such circumstances, Ye Wenjie unknowingly became the technical backbone of the base.But there was another reason why she came to this position, which made her puzzled: at least in the part she came into contact with, the Red Coast base didn't have any advanced technology in the true sense.

After entering the base, Ye Wenjie mainly worked in the launch department. As time went by, the restrictions on her were gradually relaxed, and the surveillance personnel who accompanied her all the time were also cancelled. Read the corresponding technical information.Of course, there are still things that she is forbidden to touch, such as the computer control part, she is absolutely forbidden to approach.But Ye Wenjie later discovered that that part had far less effect on the Red Bank system than she had imagined.For example, the computers in the launching department are three pieces of equipment that are even more backward than the DJS130. They use bulky magnetic core memory and paper tape input, and the longest trouble-free hours do not exceed fifteen hours.She has also seen the aiming part of the Red Coast system. The accuracy is very low, and it may not be as good as an artillery sighting device.

On this day, Political Commissar Lei talked to Ye Wenjie again.Now, in her eyes, Yang Weining and Lei Zhicheng switched places.In this era, Yang Weining, as the highest technical leader, does not have a high political status. He has no authority without technology, and he can only be cautious with his subordinates. Three Combinations" and the attitude of thought remolding.Therefore, when things went wrong at work, Ye Wenjie became his only punching bag.But as Ye Wenjie became more and more important technically, Political Commissar Lei gradually changed from his initial rudeness and indifference to her, and became kind.

"Xiaoye, by now, you are already familiar with the launch system. This is also the attack part of the Red Coast system, and it is its main body. Tell me about your overall opinion on this system?" Commissar Lei said, Sitting in front of the cliff of Radar Peak, this is the most secluded place in the base.The straight cliff seemed bottomless, which made Ye Wenjie frightened at first, but now she likes to come here alone.

Ye Wenjie was at a loss for what to do with Commissar Lei's question.She is only in charge of equipment maintenance and repairs, and has no knowledge of the overall situation of the Red Coast system, including its mode of operation, attack targets, etc., and she is not allowed to know, and she cannot be present for every regular launch.She thought about it, but stopped talking.

"Speak boldly, it doesn't matter." Political Commissar Lei tore off a piece of grass beside him and fiddled with it in his hands.

"It's... just a radio transmitter."

"Yes, it is a radio transmitter." Political Commissar Lei nodded with satisfaction, "Do you know microwave ovens?"

Ye Wenjie shook her head.

"It's a luxury gadget of the western bourgeoisie. It uses the thermal effect produced by the absorption of microwaves to heat food. The research institute I was in before imported one from abroad in order to precisely test the high-temperature aging of certain components. We also It’s very interesting to use it to heat steamed buns and bake potatoes. The inside is hot first, and the outside is still cold.” Political Commissar Lei stood up and paced back and forth, walking so close to the edge of the cliff that made Ye Wenjie very nervous, “Red Bank System It is a microwave oven, and the heating target is the enemy's spacecraft in space. As long as the microwave energy radiation reaches 0.1-1 watts/square centimeter, it can directly invalidate or burn down the microwave electronic equipment of satellite communication, radar, navigation and other systems .”

Ye Wenjie suddenly realized.Although the Red Coast system is just a radio wave transmitter, it does not mean that it is an ordinary thing. What surprised her most was that its transmission power was as high as 25 megawatts!This is not only far greater than all communication transmit power, but also greater than all radar transmit power.The Red Coast system uses a set of huge capacitors to provide transmission energy. Due to the huge power, its transmission circuit is also very different from conventional ones.Ye Wenjie now understands the purpose of this super-large transmission power, but she immediately thought of a question:
"The radio waves emitted by the system seem to be modulated?"

"Yes, but this kind of modulation is completely different from conventional radio communication. It is not for loading information, but for breaking through the shielding protection that the enemy may have with changing frequency and amplitude. Of course, these are still being tested."

Ye Wenjie nodded, and many other questions in her mind were answered now.

"Recently, two target satellites were launched from Jiuquan. The attack test conducted by the Red Coast system was completely successful. The target was destroyed, causing the interior of the satellite to reach a high temperature of nearly 8 degrees, and all the instruments and photographic equipment carried were destroyed. In the future In actual combat, the Red Coast system can effectively attack the enemy's communication and reconnaissance satellites, such as the current main reconnaissance satellite KH9 of the United States and the upcoming KH[-], not to mention the reconnaissance satellites of the Soviet Union with lower orbits. Necessary At that time, it will still be capable of destroying the Soviet revisionist Salyut space station and the skylab planned to be launched by the U.S. imperialists next year."

"Political Commissar, what are you talking to her?" Someone said behind Ye Wenjie.She turned around and saw that it was Yang Weining. He was staring at Commissar Lei with serious eyes.

"I'm here for work." Political Commissar Lei dropped a sentence, turned and left.Yang Weining glanced at Ye Wenjie wordlessly, and followed, leaving Ye Wenjie alone.

"He brought me into the base, but he still doesn't trust me." Ye Wenjie thought sadly, and at the same time worried about Commissar Lei.In the base, Lei Zhicheng has more power than Yang Weining, and the political commissar has the final decision on all major affairs.But the way he left in a hurry just now obviously felt that he had done something wrong in front of the chief engineer, which made Ye Wenjie believe that it might be just a personal decision that he told himself the real purpose of the Red Bank.What consequences would this have for him?Looking at the burly back of Political Commissar Lei, Ye Wenjie felt a surge of gratitude. For her, trust is undoubtedly a luxury that she dare not expect.Compared with Yang Weining, Lei Zhicheng is a real soldier in Ye Wenjie's mind, with the frankness and straightforwardness of a soldier, while Yang Weining is just a typical intellectual of this era that she has seen a lot, timid and cautious, just wanting to keep himself safe.Although Ye Wenjie understood him, the distance between her and him was even further.

The next day, Ye Wenjie was transferred from the launch department and assigned to work in the monitoring department.She thought it had something to do with what happened yesterday, that she was transferred away from Hong An's core department, but after arriving at the monitoring department, she realized that it was more like Hong An's core.Although the two departments have overlaps in equipment systems, such as sharing the same antenna, the technical level of the listening department is one level higher than that of the transmitting department.

The monitoring department has a very advanced radio sensitive receiving system. The signal received from the giant antenna is amplified by a ruby-type maser—in order to suppress the interference of the system itself, the core part of the receiving system is soaked in -269°C liquid. Among helium, liquid helium is regularly brought in by helicopter to replenish consumption.This makes the system extremely sensitive and able to pick up very weak signals.Ye Wenjie couldn't help thinking, what a wonderful thing it would be to use this equipment to conduct radio astronomy research.

The computer system of the monitoring department is also much larger and more complicated than that of the launching department. When Ye Wenjie entered the computer room for the first time, she saw a row of cathode ray tube display screens. She was surprised to find that there were rows of program codes scrolling on the screen. Edit and debug at will through the keyboard.And when she used the computer in college, the codes were written on sheets of program paper, and then typed onto the paper tape through a typewriter.She had heard about typing from keyboards and screens, and now she actually saw it.But what surprised her even more was the software technology here. She knew a thing called FORTRAN[5], which can write programs in codes close to natural language, and can directly write mathematical formulas into the codes!Its programming efficiency is many times higher than that of machine code assembly.There is also something called a database, which can manipulate massive amounts of data as you like.

Two days later, Political Commissar Lei talked to Ye Wenjie again, this time in the computer room of the monitoring department, in front of a row of computer monitors that glowed green.Yang Weining sat not far from them, neither wanting to join their conversation nor leaving at ease, which made Ye Wenjie feel very uncomfortable.

Commissar Lei said: "Xiaoye, now I will explain to you the work of the monitoring department. Simply put, it is to monitor the enemy's space activities, including monitoring the communication between the enemy's spacecraft and the ground and spacecraft, and our space monitoring and control department. Cooperate, lock the orbital position of the enemy's spacecraft, and provide a basis for the Red Coast system's operations, it can be said that it is Red Coast's eyes."

Yang Weining stepped in and said, "Commissioner Lei, I don't think it's good for you to be like this. There's really no need to say this to her."

Ye Wenjie looked at Yang Weining who was not far away, and said anxiously: "Political commissar, if it's not appropriate for me to understand, then..."

"No, no, Xiaoye," Political Commissar Lei raised a hand to stop Ye Wenjie from continuing, then turned to Yang Weining and said, "Mr. Yang, it's the same sentence, for the sake of work, to further play Xiaoye's role, what she should know is to Know."

Yang Weining stood up, "I want to report to my superior!"

"Of course this is your right. However, Mr. Yang, please rest assured that I am fully responsible for this matter." Commissar Lei said calmly.

Yang Weining got up and left angrily.

"Don't worry, Mr. Yang is like this, overly cautious, and sometimes he can't let go of his work." Commissar Lei shook his head with a smile, then looked directly at Wen Jie, and his tone became solemn, "Xiaoye, the purpose of bringing you to the base at first is very important. Simple: The Red Coast monitoring system is often disturbed by electromagnetic radiation generated by solar flares and sunspot activities. We accidentally saw your paper and found that you have a relatively in-depth study on solar activities. In China, the prediction model you proposed is the most accurate, so I want you to help solve this problem. But after you came, you showed a strong ability to work technically, so we decided to let you take on more and more important work. I am so Intended: Let you first go to the launch department, and then to the monitoring department, to have a general understanding and familiarity with the Red Coast system. As for the future work arrangements, we will study it. Of course, you have also seen that there is resistance, but I I trust you. Xiaoye, here I want to explain that so far, this kind of trust is only my own. I hope you can work hard and finally win the trust of the organization." Commissar Lei put a hand on Ye Wenjie's shoulder , she felt the warmth and strength conveyed by this powerful hand, "Xiaoye, let me tell you one of my sincere wishes: I hope that one day, I can call you Comrade Ye Wenjie."

Political Commissar Lei stood up after speaking, and left with the steady steps of a soldier.Ye Wenjie's eyes were filled with tears, and through the tears, the code on the screen turned into balls of dancing flames.It was the first time she cried since her father's death.

Ye Wenjie began to get familiar with the work in the monitoring department, and she soon discovered that her success here was not as good as that in the launch department. Her existing computer knowledge had already fallen behind, and most of the software skills had to be learned from scratch.Although she has the trust of Political Commissar Lei, the restrictions on her are still very strict. She can read the source code of the program, but she is not allowed to touch the database.

In daily work, Ye Wenjie accepted Yang Weining's leadership more, and he was more rough with her, getting angry every now and then.Political Commissar Lei tried to persuade him many times, but it was useless. He seemed to be filled with a nameless anxiety when he saw Ye Wenjie.

Gradually, Ye Wenjie discovered many incomprehensible things at work, which made her feel that the Red Bank project was far more complicated than she imagined.

The monitoring system received a series of noteworthy information. After computer interpretation, it was found to be several satellite photos, which were very vague. They were sent to the Surveying and Mapping Bureau of the General Staff for interpretation. They were found to be important targets in our territory, including Qingdao Military Port and several third-line Photos of key military enterprises.After analysis, it was confirmed that these photos came from the KH9 reconnaissance satellite of the United States.The first KH9 has just completed its test launch. It mainly transmits information by recycling the film cabin, but it is also conducting a more advanced radio digital transmission test. Due to the immature technology and low transmission frequency, the information leakage is relatively large, and it can be red Received by the shore system.Because it is a test transmission, the encryption level is low and can be cracked. This is undoubtedly the most important monitoring object and a rare opportunity to understand the US space reconnaissance system.But on the third day, Yang Weining ordered to shift the monitoring frequency and direction, leaving this target behind. Ye Wenjie always finds this incomprehensible.

Another thing shocked her: Although she was in the monitoring department, she was asked to do some things in the launch department.Once, she inadvertently saw the frequency settings of several future launch plans, and found that in the 304th, 318th and 325th launches, the determined launch frequencies were already lower than the microwave range, and it was impossible to produce any thermal effects on the target.

On this day, someone suddenly informed Ye Wenjie to go to the base headquarters office. From the tone and expression of the officer, Ye Wenjie felt ominous.

After entering the office, a familiar scene appeared: the main leaders of the base were all present, and there were two unknown officers who looked like people from a higher department, and everyone's cold eyes focused on her.But the sensitivity formed by so many years of ups and downs told her that she may not be the unlucky person today, she is at most a funeral object.She saw Political Commissar Lei Zhicheng sitting in a corner with a gloomy expression.He is finally going to pay the price for his trust in me. This was the first thought that popped into Ye Wenjie's mind. She made up her mind in an instant. In order not to implicate Commissar Lei, she must take the matter to herself, even at the expense of lying .But she didn't expect that Commissar Lei would be the first to speak, and his words were completely beyond her expectations.

"Ye Wenjie, first of all, I do not agree to do this. The following decision was made by Chief Engineer Yang after consulting his superiors. He will be fully responsible for the consequences." After speaking, he glanced at Yang Weining, who nodded solemnly. , "In order to better play your role in the Hong'an base, these days, after Chief Engineer Yang repeatedly asked his superiors for instructions, the comrades sent by the political department of the arms also learned about your work situation," he pointed to the two An unfamiliar officer said, "With the consent of our superiors, we have decided to tell you the real situation of the Red Bank Project."

It took a long time for Ye Wenjie to understand the meaning of Commissar Lei's words: he has been deceiving her!
"I hope you will cherish this opportunity, work hard, and make meritorious deeds to atone for your sins. From now on, you are only allowed to be honest in the base, and you are not allowed to talk or act. Any reactionary behavior will be punished most severely." Political Commissar Lei stared at Ye Wenjie and said sharply, Compared with the man Ye Wenjie saw before, he seemed to be a different person, "Do you understand? Well, please ask Chief Engineer Yang to introduce you to the Hong'an project."

The others left one after another, leaving only Yang Weining and Ye Wenjie in the office.

"If you disagree, there is still time." Yang Weining said.

Ye Wenjie knew the weight of these words, and also understood Yang Weining's anxiety when he saw her these days.In order to display her talent at the base, she must know the real situation of the Red Shore Project, but this also means that Ye Wenjie's last hope of getting out of Radar Peak will no longer exist, and the Red Shore Base will be her ultimate destination in her life.

"I agree." Ye Wenjie said softly but firmly.

So, at dusk in this early summer, amidst the roar of giant antennas in the wind and the sound of pines in the distant Daxinganling Mountains, Yang Weining told Ye Wenjie the real Red Bank Project, which was even more unbelievable than Lei Zhicheng's lies. mythology of the age.

(End of this chapter)